Perspective is a lovely hand to hold… But only when we feel like it.

Yesterday was Holocaust remembrance day. I don’t personally remember the Holocaust. I wasn’t there. But its effects leave canyons upon canyons in human history. Over 6 million people died. I can’t believe I can make such a strong statement in only five words. A single day of life is a miracle. A day of death? Utter tragedy. But six. Million. That’s more people than I know. Can you imagine if everyone you ever met… just died? It’s an illustration, of course. But they all will.

Humans are complex. But we don’t have the brain capacity to grasp tragedy. It’s partly why we all grieve differently. Sometimes you can be so sad you want to kill yourself. But that would just be giving into the same tragedy, wouldn’t it? We wonder how our loves ones would want us to live. Sometimes you just become totally numb. Life no longer makes sense, and you simply live for how everyone else sees you… and how you see yourself.

Perspective.

No matter who you are, your perspective will always be utterly limited. Your perspective isn’t necessarily wrong, but your conclusions? They’ll always be distorted if you simply go off your perspective. And distortions can often lead to false conclusions.

My situation is too much to grasp. Everything is so big. The life inside me is so small…

Nothing is making sense in my life. I feel guilty all the time, so God must be mad at me. If there’s any way to escape His presence and find solace, I must. If there’s anyone who can bring things under control, whom I can trust, it’s me… because I obviously can’t trust anyone else…

Pain.

We feel it. What we want is not always answers. We want to be justified in our pain. We want to be validated.

Pain.

In the Western world, we feel it. We have organizations, companies, mantras built on feeling others’ pain.
They’re great. But what we want is not always validation. We want answers. 

Pain and perspective.

There is a certain balance to the two. Pain can lead to perspective. Perspective can lead to pain.

Six million people died in the Holocaust. “May it never happen again,” he says.

But it will. And it has.

And, indeed, it is occurring even as we (don’t) speak